About the Author - Edgar Allan Poe

I chose Edgar Allan Poe as one of my three authors because I am a cliche goth, and this gave me an excuse to actually read more of his work, I was familiar with The Raven - who isn't? but didn't know much else of his writing or life. I was between Angela Carter and Edgar Allan Poe, and as one of my flatmates had chosen Angela Carter already this solidified the decision of Poe for me. When I first chose Edgar Allan Poe, I wasn't too sure about it but the more I find out about his life and his work the more invested I am in this project. 

This video about Edgar Allan Poe had a lot of information about Poe that I had not seen (or had missed) from reading. The patterns of female figures in his life dying of Tuberculosis became clearer in this video and it's easy to see how death and illness - particularly of women became a common theme in his work. 

It appears due to his father and foster father abandoning him, and his mother and foster mother dying he probably had some abandonment issues which may have led him to marry his cousin when she was arranged to go live with another family member. Nevertheless Poe and Virginia were a devoted and loving couple - the romantic side of Poe is evident in his writings. He certainly adored the women in his life, but love and death often operated in tandem in his life and thus his work. 

So far I've only done quite dark drawings based on his writing but I would like to investigate the lighthearted romantic side of Poe.

I have also found that Poe's writing has been pretty influential in the writing world. He is considered the father of detective stories, having written "murders in the rue morgue" , " the mystery of marie roget" and "the purloined letter", all with a recurring detective character - C Auguste Dupin. A character which has basically inspired Sherlock Holmes as well as other well known fictional detectives. The character is even mentioned in Sherlock Holmes (John Watson says Holmes reminds him of Dupin and that he did not think such characters existed outside of fiction.) I found all this pretty amazing, I have only watched Sherlock Holmes films but I instantly got the connection when I read Murders in the Rue Morgue!!!